Search This Blog

The Way We Were...Joseph Wilson before the War

"Two things to keep in mind. First, Saddam is a classic survivalist. In his mind, as long as he survives, the nation-state of Iraq survives; the state is embodied in him. Second, Saddam wants to survive with weapons of mass destruction. He wants to continue his efforts to dominate the region. He would like to create one single Arab state under his leadership or at least dominate the Arab world.

Can you deter him? … Regime decapitation is the ultimate sanction if he uses a weapon of mass destruction or tries to embroil Israel in this conflict. …

Operation Desert Fox [1998] roiled the political climate in Iraq. It weakened the pillars of the regime--tribal support and clan support. An aggressive campaign on weapons of mass destruction may have the intended or unintended consequences of leading to a coup, causing Saddam's generals to move. We may want to therefore focus on high value targets. For example, right now, when an American or allied aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone is "painted", we go after the air defense site, the sergeants and the corporals manning the post. Instead, we should go after the headquarters issuing the order--this affects colonels and generals. …

We need to focus on global public opinion. We need to present evidence that Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction, not that we are overthrowing an Arab regime because we don't like it.

I don't believe Saddam will go quietly. He will use every weapon in his arsenal, and he will cause trouble for us wherever possible."

The White House will be announcing the probe at about 12:30pm. My source tells me that this probe will most likely result in another prosecutor being assigned as of course Fitzgerald is still busy/dizzy on the Plame/Game No-Leak. Additionally, other probes into other recent leaks such as the CIA 'prisons'leak is in the works as well. As I said, this is the NEW Bush - on the attack - it's no more Mr. Nice Guy!

Police are hunting for the female companion of a lone gunman who killed at least 20 people, including two off-duty police officers, and injured more than 100 injured in Las Vegas on Sunday night.
Officers believe Marilou Danley, who they described as a middle-aged Asian woman, has more information on the man who attacked the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Sunday night before being killed.
That man was named by 9 News as Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old man from Mesquite, Nevada, who was known to local law enforcement.
Police were reported to be searching his house in the early hours of Monday morning, though there was no indication of a motive.
The Strip was completely shut down after the man, described by police as 'a local' opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort and casino.